An Honest Confession

I have something I need to get off my chest. It will only take a moment, but it is something that I need to say and something I just realized. It may seem as though I hate LeBron James. I bash him and the Cavs constantly on my Twitter account (@midrangejumper), I tell everyone who will listen that Kobe is better, I convince myself that Carmelo is superior; it goes on and on. I am sick of everyone crowning him "The King" when he hasn't won anything. I hate the whole "he makes his teammates better" blabber, and when the Cavs lose, his teammates catch all the blame. Wait, I though you said he made them better? Why doesn't he ever get any blame.

Just a few weeks ago I realized what my problem was. Watch the video below:




Do you see what I see? At the conclusion of the first NBA game of his career, I was geeked about the possibilities that young LeBron had. I saw a young Magic, mixed with a little Dr. J, and maybe some Jim Brown thrown in there. But mostly I thought I saw Magic. And this is where my disappointment came in. LeBron did not turn out the way I wanted him to. I thought he was going to be Magic 2.0, a pass-first point guard with big-man size who could also get to the hoop whenever he wanted. Numbers and visions danced in my head. I wanted to see his averages more Magic than MJ. I thought we would see something like 25 points, 13 assists and 8 rebounds per game. I was ecstatic: a new era. Instead we get seasons like this: 30-7-7. I'm heartbroken.

Too often now we get players coming into the league emulating Jordan. Glory in points, breathtaking dunks. It's not a bad thing, because, as you may have guessed, my favorite current player is in the Jordan mold, Mr. Kobe Bryant. But LeBron was supposed to be something new, something fresh. Magic for Millenium. Instead he kind of turned into another player in the Jordan ilk.

What it all boils down to is this. When LeBron James gets a fastbreak he goes straight for that tomahawk power-filled throwdown we have all come to know. But, in that first game of his career, he got a fast break and did something I loved: he turned around and shoveled it off to a teammate. It said "let him have the highlight, I'm good." Can you remember how refreshing that was? How many players of his caliber go for the dunk? 99.9%. MJ did it, Kobe does it... How many pass it off so their teammate can have the glory? I thought it was going to be LeBron. But its not.

K4XXUKZFEPAS